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But perhaps this
was the shock to the system Russian sport needed. Today, in spite of the financial
crisis, money is being funneled into training. Russia's Olympic hopefuls are
provided with practically anything they want. Track-and-field athletes are
training at camps near Sochi and in Portugal. Wrestlers have spent a lot of
time at a camp in Sochi named after three-time Olympic champion Alexander
Karelin where the accommodations rival those of a five-star hotel. Gymnasts
have chosen a base near Lake Krugloye outside Moscow. Athletes who do not want
to participate in group training are provided personal coaches.

Successful
businessmen are also investing heavily in their favorite sports. In women’s
wrestling, a benefactor has offered the first Russian to win a gold medal
$500,000. The newly founded National Academy of Summer Olympic Sports is headed
and bankrolled by billionaire Vladimir Lisin.

Russia's track and
field athletes won nine gold medals at the 2011 world championship in Daegu, South
Korea – the best result in the history of Russia and the Soviet Union. These
results can be partially attributed to the work of Elena Isinbayeva in pole
vaulting and Ivan Ukhov in the high jump along with the women’s 4x400metres
relay team.

In addition to
track-and-field, there are some events in which Russia is still expected to do
well in London – gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, sychronized swimming. And
others, such as boxing and freestyle wrestling, in which the Russian team has a
good chance of medaling. Fencing, shooting, weightlifting and diving are other events
in which Russian athletes are at the top of their game.

Unfortunately,
there are sports in which Russia has little chance of ascending to the medal
podium. Swimming, which has more opportunities for medals than any other
Olympic event besides track-and-field – will unlikely result in many for
Russia. Rowing and cycling also give no cause for optimism. In many team
sports, including soccer and men’s water polo, Russian teams did not even
qualify for London. Even women's tennis, which Russian women have dominated in
the past, is a wild card for Russia this year -- especially given that the
tennis matches will be played on Wimbledon's grass courts.

When Baron Pierre
de Coubertin revived the Olympics, nobody initially thought about the team
medal tally, even if unofficial. Today, the unofficial count haunts many
countries. A medal won at Olympic Games is a measure of how competitive and
advanced a country is. If it wins many medals, a country considers itself to be
a big power not only in sport.

Vitaly Mutko,
Russia's minister of sports, tourism and youth policy, is sure that, if Russia's
Olympic squad comes in third in London in the unofficial team medals count,
this would be a success. But the heads
of all the Russian sports federations want to aim higher.

Is this just
optimism, without which nothing can be achieved in any field of human
endeavour? Or is it a sober assessment – or reassessment – of Russia's
strength? We will see in London.